Being somewhat new to the creative world of Regency Events, it was a nice surprise to find another Regency Ball being held so soon after the Ball at the Forkes (in Chatham) and just a month later!

So Lady Anita and I made it to the Battlefield Ball on Saturday, November 2…arriving in our silver chariot around 5:45 p.m. in Stoney Creek. Just one near carriage-turning-over, as I thought that perhaps the car needed to be weighed at a truck weigh station and exited…oops, good thing that there weren’t open and we just sailed through! You are so very conscious of being pulled over for a traffic misdemeanor when dressed in Regency clothes and hairstyles 🙂

The Battlefield House hosted the Ball as the culmination of their 1812/1813 festivities. It was held at the very lovely and historic Liuna Gardens. We arrived just ahead of many other guests, so we grabbed a table by the window and were soon joined by two lovely women from Hamilton, who were Friends of Battlefield. The table then filled up with friends from Chatham, and lots of great stories and memories of the Battle of the Thames re-enactment and the Ball at the Forkes.

After introductions around the table and by the MC, dinner was served and the selection of salad, vegetables and meats were nice. But the real treat was after dinner when the Fashion Show began – presented by Betsy Bayshore. This is the second time I’ve seen a show by her and always learn so much! Oh, I have so much appreciation for those dresses, spencers, pelisses, etc. after my sewing projects this past summer!

After drawing for the door prizes (3 out of 6 at our table won something, including yours truly!), there was SO MUCH Dancing! Lady Anita and I danced all of the dances, which totaled six, but when you consider that each dance involved instructions and then going “down the set and up the set” and there were 8 couples or so for each line, it was a lot.

These are the dances, in order: Miss Muster’s Fancy; Constancy; Allemande Swiss; Doubting Shepherd (???) and we finished with British Sorrow. My favourite? The Shepherd song, which I can’t remember the first word of except that it started with a “D”. In this one, the men danced a little turn while the women danced around the men, like a shepherd leading the sheep. Does anyone know the one I mean?

Many thanks to the Battlefield House for giving a Ball this fall! There was some talk of it being repeated next year…let’s hope so!